THE TEARS OF A WOMAN, by Tony Wacha Ogutu

Tony was HIV positive; he was very enthusiast and an advocate of the rights of women living with HIV. Towards the end of the training Tony caught what is called an opportunistic infection and passed away. We honour his memory. Even if he couldn’t finish his work, we think that through his interview you will be able to grasp his motivation and positivity.

This is the true story of miss Ann Obura , 29 years old, living in Rhonda, Nakuru County in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. She got married at 17 and lived a happy supportive marriage, blessed with four lovely children.
Everything was perfect until she discovered that she had conceived Mike, their fifth born. At that time she got tested for HIV and AIDS through the PMTCT [ Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission], which is compulsory for every expectant mother in Kenya, and she discovered that she was HIV positive.
As every woman would do she disclosed her HIV status to her husband and that marked the beginning of the tears of Mrs. Ann Obura: her husband chased her away that very night at 11pm, on a Tuesday in 2011, accusing her of prostitution and of plotting to kill him, and he disowned all the children.
Miss Ann and her five children now live in a poverty stricken slum in Nakuru County in very poor health condition, with no steady source of income , stigma, discrimination and rejection and with no one to run to and nowhere to go. Miss Ann is just one among millions of women suffering and paying a high cost for being HIV positive in Kenya and all around the world.
By making and distributing this documentary I want to advocate for economic empowerment for women living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya and across the word and especially in Africa. I also want to create awareness among the community to care, support and offer motivation to women living with HIV.
Last but not least this documentary is meant to be a tool for advocating to the policy makers to implement heavy punishment on any person, company or organization that discriminate a person based on his or her HIV status.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of COL’OR NGO and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the EU. This work is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported.Organized Themes